tail wagging the dog ~1@number10gov

Most people believe that we live in a democracy but there are people, who know that this is untrue.

These people are the politicians.
They know that they are the head of this compact and that they decide what the body, i.e. the people, must do.
If the politicians decide that the body must be slimmed down, the head will deprive the body of the sustenance it needs and they will give that sustenance to politicians of other countries, with whom they want to curry favour.
For those who still believe that we live in a democracy, that the dog wags the tail, consider membership of the EU (essentially a Franco-German alliance with Germany as top dog and France thinking it is).

This is purely a political decision; no valid argument for this immolation has ever been offered that even the politicians, themselves, have found convincing.
Politicians have never asked us how we feel about being surrendered to foreign rule and David Cameron, is simply the latest in a long line of politicians, who have led us along this path.

There is no doubt that Ed Miliband, his likely successor, will continue along the same path, unless Nick Farage can trip him up.
The dog is snapping at its tail but the tail keeps out of reach and continues to point the way that the dog is being dragged.
David Cameron has offered a referendum in the hope of silencing the yapping but the referendum won’t be about changing direction. It will be about how fast we get dragged.
If the majority of us try to abstain, then like the PCC vote, the result will still stand.
If only 2% of the electorate vote to stay in Europe, from a electoral turnout of 3%, then this will be announced as an overwhelming majority vote in favour of the political decision. It will be proclaimed as an example of true democracy in action and the 97% abstainers will be shouted down as being anti-democratic malcontents.